Automatic vent closure



March 22, 1955 c. J. ROOS 2,704,503

A-UTOMATIC VENT CLOSURE Filed June 10, 1952 2 Shets-Shee 1 Charles JR005 7 INVENTOB ATTORNEYS March 22, 1955 c. J. ROOS AUTOMATIC VENTCLOSURE Filed June 10, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Charles J R005 INVENTORwww-Fa.

ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent AUTOMATIC VENT CLOSURE Charles J. Roos, Muskegon,Mich.

Application June 10, 1952, Serial No. 292,765

1 Claim. (CI. 98-68) This invention relates to a pressure responsivevent closer and has for its primary object to close a vent or stack whenthe pressure of the surrounding atmosphere attains a predetermined valueas may result from a bomb blast.

Another object is to quickly alter the position of the vent closer toplace its pivoted side to windward in event of excessive air pressuresto one side of the stack or vent.

A further object is to employ the effort of the rapidly moving air toclose the vent or stack.

The above and other objects may be attained by employing this inventionwhich embodies among its features a ring-shaped carriage mounted atop ofa stack for rotation about the axis of the vent extending through thestack, a cover pivotally mounted on the carriage adjacent one sidethereof and adapted to close the vent in the stack, means carried by thecover and projecting beyond the pivoted side thereof for tilting thecover and holding it in vent opening position, a wind vane carried bythe cover and projecting from the side thereof remote from the pivot forrotating the carriage about the axis of the vent to bring the hingedside of the cover to windward, and a vane carried by and extendingupwardly from the cover adjacent the wind vane for closing the coverwhen the wind impinges on said vane.

Other features include a stop carried by the carriage for limiting themovement of the cover to open position, a weight carried by the coverfor adjustment toward and away from the pivotal point thereof to selectthe amount of effort required to close the cover, and the last-mentionedvane being of concave-convex configuration with its concave sidedisposed toward the pivoted side of the cover.

In the drawings,

Fig. l is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through a stack showingthis improved closer mounted thereon and certain parts of the closerbeing illustrated in section,

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a side view taken at right angles to Fig. l, and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view of the stack showing a modified form ofcloser mounted thereon.

Referring to the drawings in detail a stack S has extending therethroughand opening through the top thereof a vent V. Seated on the upper end ofthe stack and secured thereto by suitable fastening means is a trackwaydesignated generally 12 which comprises a depending flange 14 carryingadjacent its upper edge an inwardly extending flange 16 which is adaptedto seat on the top edge of the stack as will be readily understood uponreference to the drawings. Carried by the inner edge of the flange 16 isan upwardly extending annular flange 18 carrying adjacent its upper edgean outwardly extending annular flange 20 which forms an annular trackwayabout which the carriage to be more fully hereinafter described rotates.

The carriage above referred to comprises an annular channel 22 which ismounted on the trackway 20 for rotation about the axis of the ventopening V, and carried by and extending outwardly from the carriage 22is a stop arm 24. Carried by and extending upwardly from the carriage 22adjacent the stop arm 24 are spaced cars 26 having aligning openingsextendinghorizontally therethrough for the reception of a pivot pin 28by means of which a cover designated generally 30 is pivotally con- 2,704,503 Patented Mar. 22, 1955 "ice nected to the carriage 22. The cover30 comprises a disk 32 carrying adjacent one side an outwardly extendmgcar 34 having an opening extending therethrough for the reception of thepivot pin 28 in order to pivotally support the cover above the carriage22 for movement in a vertical are from a horizontal position in whichthe vent V is closed to an upwardly inclined position in which the ventV is open to atmosphere. A suitable cushion 35 is carried by the cover30 on the under side thereof for engagement with the top of the carriage22 to effect a seal with the carriage when the vent is closed. Carriedby the cover and extending upwardly therefrom are spaced eyes 36, theopenings of which lie along a common axis which intersects a plane whichlies perpendicular to the axis of the pivot pin 28.

Extending through the eyes 36 is an elongated externally screw threadedbar 38 upon which are threaded pairs of clamp nuts 40 and 42 which asillustrated in Fig. l engage opposite sides of the eyes 36 to adjustablysupport the bar 36 in the eyes. As illustrated, the bar 38 extendsbeyond the pivoted edge of the cover 30 and has mounted for adjustmentlongitudinally thereon by clamp nuts 44 a counterweight 46 which asillustrated in the drawings is adapted to counterbalance the cover andother mechanism to yieldingly hold it open.

Carried by the bar 38 and extending longitudinally from the end thereofremote from the pivot 28 is an arm 48 carrying at its end remote fromthe bar a wind vane 50 which when the cover is tilted to open positionextends substantially horizontally so that air pressure impingingthereon will rotate the carriage 22 about the track 20 to bring thepivoted side of the cover 30 to windward. Extending upwardly from thearm 48 is a post 52 carrying at its upper end a concave-convex vane 54,the concave side of which is disposed toward the pivoted side of thecover 30 so that air pressure exerted on the vane 54 will cause thecover 30 to move downwardly against the effort of the counterweight 46and close the open end of the vent V. A suitable brace bar 56 isconnected to the vane 54 and to the arm 58 between the vane 50 and thepost 52 in order to reinforce the vane 54.

In the modified form of the invention illustrated in Fig. 4 the stack Sis formed with a vent V which opens through the top thereof, and seatedon the top of the stack in encircling relation with the vent is a cap12' carrying an annular trackway 20 from which extends outwardly an arm24 and to which is pivotally connected by a pivot 28' a cover 30'carrying upwardly extending eyes 36'. The structure so far described isidentical with that previously set forth but instead of a threaded bar38, a smooth bar 58 is employed which is weldedas at 60 to the eyes 36'.A counterweight 62 is also welded as at 64 to the bar 58 in place of thecounterweight 46 and the bar 58 carries a wind vane and a cover closingconcave-convex vane adjacent the end thereof remote from the weight 62which correspond to the vanes 50 and 54.

In use it will be evident that in employing the structure illustrated inFigs. 1 through 4 inclusive the bar 38 may be adjusted longitudinallythrough the eyes 36 by turning the adjusting nuts 40 and 42, also thecounterweight 46 may be adjusted by turning the adjusting nuts 44 inorder to effect the retention of the cover 30 in open position andresponsive to closing under a predetermined wind pressure. When a bombblast occurs in the vicinity of a stack S protected with a stack closureof the type herein disclosed, it is evident that the high pressure andvelocity of the air will cause the vane 50 to rotate the carriage 22 onthe trackway 20 to move the pivoted edge of the cover 30 to windward.Obviously as the pivot 28 moves to windward, the pressure of theatmosphere on the concavo-convex vane 54 will cause the bar 38 to tiltabout the axis of the pivot pin 28 and move the cover 30 to closingposition with relation to the vent V. In this way noxious gases and thelike will be excluded from the vent V and prevented from entering abuilding structure or the like, or a furnace therein and starting fires.

While in the foregoing there has been shownand described the preferredembodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minor changesin the details of construction combination and arrangement of parts maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as claimed.

What is claimed is:

A vent closer comprising a trackway adapted to be connected to a ventstack in encircling relation to the vent thereof, a ring shaped carriagemounted on the track to rotate about the axis of the vent, a coverpivoted adjacent one side to the carriage for movement about ahorizontal axis adjacent one side of the vent from a substantiallyhorizontal vent closing position to a tilted position in which the ventis open, spaced cars carried by and extending upwardly from the cover,said ears having aligning openings therein which lie along an axis lyingabove the cover and in a plane that extends perpendicular to the axis ofthe pivot, an elongated screw threaded rod extending through theopening, nuts threadedly engaging the rod on opposite sides of the earsfor holding said rod in a selected position with relation to the cover,a counterweight mounted on the rod for adjustment longitudinally thereonon the side of the pivot remote from the cover for tilting the cover, astop carried by the carriage and projecting laterally therefrom beneaththe rod for engaging the rod and arresting movement thereof under theinfluence of the counterweight, a wind vane carried by the rod on theside of the cover remote from the counterweight for rotating thecarriage and moving the pivoted side of the cover to windward, aconcave-convex cover closing vane carried by the rod and extendingupwardly therefrom adjacent the wind vane, and the concave side of saidcover closing vane being disposed toward the pivoted side of the cover,said cover closing vane being adapted to move the cover into ventclosing position when the velocity of the wind impinging on said vaneexceeds a predetermined value.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 15,779Royce Sept. 23, 1856 1,222,394 Grimes Apr. 10, 1917 1,256,917MacWilliams Feb. 19, 1918 1,263,912 Lyle Apr. 23, 1918 1,648,182 KelmNov. 8, 1927

